Sotho–Tswana languages

E135837

Bantu languages Southern Bantu languages language group

The Sotho–Tswana languages are a closely related group of Southern Bantu languages spoken primarily in South Africa, Lesotho, and Botswana, including Sesotho, Setswana, and Sepedi.

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All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
Sotho-Tswana languages	7
Sotho–Tswana languages canonical	6
Sotho languages	4
Sotho–Tswana	1
Sotho–Tswana dialect continuum	1
Tswana languages	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1082365 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sotho–Tswana languages
Context triple: [Sesotho, languageGroup, Sotho–Tswana languages]

A. Setswana
Setswana is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Botswana and parts of South Africa, known for being one of the region’s major indigenous languages.
B. Nguni languages
The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages of southern Africa that include major tongues such as Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, and Ndebele.
C. Northern Sotho (Sepedi)
Northern Sotho (Sepedi) is a Bantu language of South Africa, recognized as one of the country’s official languages and widely spoken in the northern regions, especially in Limpopo and parts of Gauteng.
D. Sotho
Sotho is a Bantu language of Southern Africa, primarily spoken in Lesotho and South Africa, where it serves as one of the country’s official languages.
E. Khoisan languages
Khoisan languages are a group of indigenous African language families best known for their distinctive click consonants and their speakers’ long-standing presence in southern Africa.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Sotho–Tswana languages
Target entity description: The Sotho–Tswana languages are a closely related group of Southern Bantu languages spoken primarily in South Africa, Lesotho, and Botswana, including Sesotho, Setswana, and Sepedi.

A. Setswana
Setswana is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Botswana and parts of South Africa, known for being one of the region’s major indigenous languages.
B. Nguni languages
The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages of southern Africa that include major tongues such as Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, and Ndebele.
C. Northern Sotho (Sepedi)
Northern Sotho (Sepedi) is a Bantu language of South Africa, recognized as one of the country’s official languages and widely spoken in the northern regions, especially in Limpopo and parts of Gauteng.
D. Sotho
Sotho is a Bantu language of Southern Africa, primarily spoken in Lesotho and South Africa, where it serves as one of the country’s official languages.
E. Khoisan languages
Khoisan languages are a group of indigenous African language families best known for their distinctive click consonants and their speakers’ long-standing presence in southern Africa.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Bantu languages ⓘ Southern Bantu languages ⓘ language group ⓘ
arealFeature	share similar noun class systems ⓘ share similar phonological systems ⓘ share similar verbal morphology ⓘ
educationUse	used as medium of instruction in early schooling in parts of South Africa ⓘ
ethnolinguisticGroup	Sotho–Tswana peoples ⓘ linked to: Sotho-Tswana peoples
feature	extensive use of derivational verbal suffixes ⓘ rich system of noun concords ⓘ tone used for lexical and grammatical distinctions ⓘ
glottologCode	sout2807 ⓘ
hasISOClassification	part of Bantu (Guthrie S.30 group) ⓘ
hasPart	Kgalagadi ⓘ linked to: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Lozi ⓘ Northern Sotho ⓘ linked to: Northern Sotho (Sepedi) Phuthi ⓘ Sepedi ⓘ linked to: Northern Sotho (Sepedi) Sesotho ⓘ Setswana ⓘ Southern Sotho ⓘ linked to: Sotho Tlokwa ⓘ Tlôkwa dialects ⓘ Tswana ⓘ linked to: Setswana
historicalDevelopment	developed from Proto-Sotho–Tswana ⓘ
languageFamily	Bantu ⓘ linked to: Bantu languages Niger–Congo ⓘ linked to: Niger–Congo languages
literaryTradition	have written literature and Bible translations in major varieties ⓘ
mutualIntelligibility	high among major varieties ⓘ
region	Southern Africa ⓘ
spokenIn	Botswana ⓘ Lesotho ⓘ Namibia ⓘ South Africa ⓘ Zambia ⓘ Zimbabwe ⓘ
subclassOf	Atlantic–Congo languages ⓘ Benue–Congo languages ⓘ Niger–Congo languages ⓘ Sotho–Nguni languages ⓘ Southern Bantu branch ⓘ linked to: Southern Bantu
typology	agglutinative ⓘ noun-class language ⓘ
usedAs	national language group in Botswana (via Setswana) ⓘ national language group in Lesotho (via Sesotho) ⓘ official language group in South Africa (via member languages) ⓘ
wordOrder	SVO ⓘ
writingSystem	Latin script ⓘ linked to: Latin alphabet

How these facts were elicited